Chapter 28: Deadly Room Numbers (Part 8)

Shen Qingqiu couldn’t help chuckling, and offered her the dagger with her right hand, saying, “Well, I’m right here. Are you still in a bad mood?”

Xiao Muyu didn’t take it. Instead, she stood up, and shot a dirty glance at her. When they found the door, she walked out while explaining, “I called her ‘Qingqiu’, and she didn’t react at all. If it were you, I bet you’d be quick to play along. Also, I caught a faint scent of decay from her. She tried using the dagger to prove she was real, get me to lower my guard, but she didn’t know that you have a small habit when you wield your dagger.”

Shen Qingqiu froze, her smile fading as curiosity piqued. “What habit?” she asked.

Xiao Muyu stared at her right hand and said, “When you hold the dagger, your right thumb unconsciously strokes the hilt once before you grip it tightly.”

Shen Qingqiu sheathed the dagger, then pulled it out again. Sure enough, there was that small movement.

She laughed. “I didn’t even realize I had that habit. So, does this mean you’ve been paying close attention to me?”

Her expression was a bit smug and pleased, not exactly annoying, but not something that made Xiao Muyu happy either. ‘Here we go again,’ she thought. She didn’t want to respond, but something about it left her feeling unsettled. They weren’t close, so why had she noticed such a small detail? She couldn’t explain it—she just saw it and remembered.

Shen Qingqiu looked very happy, but her eyes darkened slightly when she glanced back at the mirror, muttering, “Since there were two Shen Qingqius, we can’t rule out the possibility that there could be two Xiao Muyus as well.”

Xiao Muyu paused; she understood Shen Qingqiu’s point. That made it even more urgent to find the others.

As soon as she pushed the door open, she froze. A long, winding corridor lay before her, and when she looked back, she could still vaguely make out two open doors.

“I came out from there, and found Su Jin through the first door I opened. After waking her, we decided to split up and search for the others. Luckily, the next door led me to you,” Shen Qingqiu explained, sounding a little relieved.

“Su Jin is awake too?” Xiao Muyu was slightly surprised.

“Yeah. Let’s go check on the others,” Shen Qingqiu replied.

Just as they finished talking, a door suddenly slammed open. A panicked Su Jin burst out, with Zuo Tiantian hot on her heels, wielding an axe, and ready to strike her down.

“Miss Xiao, Miss Shen, help!” Su Jin shouted in distress.

Shen Qingqiu frowned slightly and, without hesitation, drove her dagger into Su Jin as she ran past. Su Jin’s face froze in shock before she let out a shriek and disintegrated into ashes.

The axe-wielding Zuo Tiantian appeared stunned for a moment. Then, without warning, she dropped the weapon and vanished instantly.

Xiao Muyu was taken aback. “How did you know they were fakes?” she asked.

Shen Qingqiu raised an eyebrow. “The mirror image looked exactly like the original, but the acting was terrible. That Su Jin was too dramatic.”

Xiao Muyu walked over and picked up the axe that Zuo Tiantian had dropped in her panic. Surprisingly, it hadn’t disappeared. It must be an object within the instance.

Xiao Muyu responded to Shen Qingqiu’s explanation casually, “You seem to know Su Jin well. I thought nothing much would catch your eye.”

Her words carried an intriguing undertone. Shen Qingqiu quickly caught up, tilting her head with a smile. “How could that be? You caught my eye at first glance. As for the others, I notice what’s necessary to clear the level, but none of them compare to you.”

Xiao Muyu pressed her lips tight, chose not to engage with Shen Qingqiu’s teasing, and continued walking forward.

When it came to serious matters, Shen Qingqiu naturally wouldn’t be so flippant. She suppressed her smile and said seriously, “In this round, the teammates you encounter might not be who they appear. If they don’t realize this, few will make it out alive.”

Even them, had they not run into an identical Shen Qingqiu earlier, they might not have questioned the fake Su Jin. These things had turned to underhanded tricks after brute force failed them.

As they continued down the hallway, they checked every door that could be open. After opening two rooms, one was empty, but in the other, they found Zhang Qiang.

He lay quietly in front of a large floor-length mirror, with a peaceful look on his face. There was a big gaping wound on his abdomen. It had been torn open. He was already dead.

Shen Qingqiu and Xiao Muyu gazed at him in silence. After a moment, Shen Qingqiu stepped forward and searched his body. He still had the bandage on him, which others could indeed take.

Straightening up, Shen Qingqiu said, “At least he didn’t suffer much. Let’s go.”

Zhang Qiang had already lost one arm, and in his condition, he wouldn’t have survived what was coming next. There was no helping it.

Xiao Muyu gave a brief glance before nodding. She had long lost the ability to feel sorrow over death.

As they stepped out of the room, they immediately met Su Jin, Chen Kaijie, and Zuo Tiantian.

Chen Kaijie had several new wounds, looking a bit worse for wear. His eyes lit up when he saw them.

“Miss Xiao, Miss Shen,” he greeted.

Xiao Muyu shot a quick warning look at Shen Qingqiu before asking, “Mr. Chen, glad we found you all. How did the three of you end up together?”

Su Jin’s face paled as she replied, “Miss Shen and I split up to look for the others. In the first room I opened, I found Zhang Qiang… he was already dead.”

“I kept going, and then opened another door. That’s when I found Chen Kaijie, caught in the mirror’s illusion. It nearly dragged him in, but I smashed it, and he woke up. We ran into Tiantian on the way to look for you two.”

Su Jin checked out, so Shen Qingqiu nodded, then turned to stare at Chen Kaijie and Zuo Tiantian.

Chen Kaijie, still shaken, glanced at Su Jin with gratitude in his eyes. “Su Jin really came at the right time. That mirror was evil. As soon as I entered, my mind went blank, and I thought… I thought I was home.” His eyes suddenly reddened, filled with sadness and regret.

Zuo Tiantian also started tearing up upon hearing this. “I saw my mother… almost hugged her. But then I heard a noise, and when I woke up, it turned out… to be a long-haired ghost.”

She shuddered, clearly still frightened. Su Jin glanced at her, and gave her a gentle pat on the back.

“As long as you’re all safe. We still haven’t found Lin Hai, and the system still hasn’t announced the conditions for clearing this round. We can’t let our guard down. Let’s keep moving.”

With that said, Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu started leading the way again.

After the five had regrouped, Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu walked at the front, followed by Su Jin, Chen Kaijie, and Zuo Tiantian.

Shen Qingqiu appeared to be focused on the path ahead, but kept glancing over at Xiao Muyu from the corner of her eye. Xiao Muyu also sneaked a few looks at her while her hand, placed in front of her, was counting down.

Three, two, one!

Shen Qingqiu immediately turned around, only to see Zuo Tiantian had somehow fallen to the furthest back. At that moment, her lips curled into a sinister smile, and bloody cracks spread across her face. Her fingers had elongated into sharp claws, hovering above Su Jin and Chen Kaijie’s heads, ready to strike them.

Shen Qingqiu hurled her dagger, hitting Zuo Tiantian squarely between the eyes. She followed up with a kick that sent her flying. Zuo Tiantian let out a miserable shriek before turning to ashes, just like the other mirror images.

Su Jin and Chen Kaijie watched with wide eyes and mouths agape. After a moment, they finally came to their senses and asked, “That wasn’t Zuo Tiantian?”

“This round also has mirror images, but this time they’re not attacking directly. Instead, they disguise themselves as us and blend into the group, waiting for an opportunity to strike.” Xiao Muyu gave a quick explanation as the four of them continued moving.

Chen Kaijie asked in trepidation, “How did you know she was fake and that we’re real?”

Shen Qingqiu, who hated unnecessary questions during critical moments, responded coolly, “A stab should do the trick. Want to try?”

Chen Kaijie immediately shut his mouth. ‘This woman is too scary.’

“Zuo Tiantian couldn’t have escaped so easily on her own, and being startled by a noise is such a half-assed excuse,” Shen Qingqiu criticized ruthlessly. Zuo Tiantian’s red thread only had the ability to bind people, not alert her. Even Xiao Muyu almost succumbed to the illusion, so how could Zuo Tiantian have woken up on her own?

Chen Kaijie opened his mouth but then thought better of it. ‘So Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu woke up on their own?’

“Then what about the real Zuo Tiantian?” Su Jin murmured, but no one had an answer for her.

As they carefully moved forward, Shen Qingqiu and Xiao Muyu suddenly stopped, gesturing for the group to be silent.

Actually, even without the signal, Chen Kaijie and Su Jin were already too overwhelmed to speak.

About ten meters ahead, a man in a gray coat was kneeling with his back to them. They recognized from the clothing and neatly combed hair, that he was Lin Hai.

However, something was very wrong. That back figure sent a cold chill crawling up Chen Kaijie’s spine and straight to his head. There was an indescribable eeriness to it.

At first, he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was suspect. After staring for a while, he finally realized what it was, and his facial muscles twitched in response.

Lin Hai’s kneeling figure wasn’t straight. His shoulders slumped, in a way that his head should be drooping forward. But instead, his head and neck remained perfectly upright, which went against normal human anatomy.

At that moment, Lin Hai moved, or more precisely, his neck did. His head began to turn in a slow, rigid manner, jerking with every turn like a robot. Horrifyingly, his body stayed completely still, and only his head rotated to face Xiao Muyu and the others.

The sensation of one’s heart crawling with dread—that was exactly what they were feeling.

The lifeless face, devoid of expression, suddenly mouthed the words: “You’re all… here.”

No one responded. No one even moved. Shen Qingqiu and Xiao Muyu only tightened their grips on their weapons, eyes filled with caution.

Lin Hai appeared confused by their silence. He lowered his head to glance at his twisted body, and realized something.

In the next moment, he began to stand with his head still twisted backwards. He moved stiffly, with his joints creaking like a rusted machine, knees and ankles twisted at odd angles, as if his whole body could collapse at any second.

For some reason, he was also clutching a ball in one hand. The group was even more creeped out.

“Is… is that Lin Hai? And that ball he’s holding…”

Chen Kaijie’s forehead was slick with sweat.

“Yes, and no,” Xiao Muyu responded gravely.

The body was Lin Hai’s, but the consciousness was not. This also confirmed her suspicion: Lin Hai had taken Ni De’s ball, and then used it, but it still hadn’t saved him.

The next moment, Lin Hai, who barely seemed capable of standing, suddenly dropped the ball, and hurtled towards them like a cannonball.

Shen Qingqiu and Xiao Muyu sidestepped him, but this Lin Hai was unnaturally agile. His stiff arms shot up to claw at their throats.

Shen Qingqiu’s right hand deftly slipped her dagger between Lin Hai’s fingers, twisting it to stop his hand from advancing further.

At the same time, Xiao Muyu swung her axe, forcing Lin Hai to withdraw.

In perfect sync, the two of them kicked him squarely in the abdomen, sending him flying back a few meters.

They finally got a clear look at what Lin Hai had become. He had two heads—one hung limply against his chest, eyes shut and seemingly devoid of consciousness, while the other, rigid and positioned on his neck, was clearly in control of the body.

Their combined attack seemed to have enraged him. Lin Hai snarled and crawled up onto the corridor ceiling, before lunging toward them.

Chen Kaijie immediately pulled out his frying pan, assuming a defensive stance. It looked a bit comical, but it was still better than Su Jin, who stood there defenseless.

“You two go ahead, just run! This round should still have an exit to unlock. Find it!”

Xiao Muyu realized the real challenge had begun. Lin Hai was gone and Zuo Tiantian was probably done for too. Their only hope was to locate the exit.

“There is only one condition for clearing the sixth round: successfully escape. Failure means staying here forever.”

The system’s voice announcement came at impeccable timing. It provided no help whatsoever, but confirmed Xiao Muyu’s suspicion.

Su Jin and Chen Kaijie had a clear picture of the situation and immediately bolted. But to their horror, they discovered it wasn’t just Lin Hai—another Xiao Muyu appeared before them.

Just then, Zuo Tiantian showed up, staggering toward them, covered in blood. When she saw the group, she started bawling.

She startled Chen Kaijie and Su Jin. The former shouted, “Stop there! Don’t pretend! I know you’re not the real Zuo Tiantian!”

He swung his frying pan and Zuo Tiantian, unable to dodge in time, was knocked to the ground. She looked terrified, desperately shaking her head while crying, begging for mercy.

Xiao Muyu held off an attack from Lin Hai, and managed to get out: “She’s probably the real one. They’re using brute force now because deception is no longer effective. Either we escape alive, or we die!”

Chen Kaijie finally exhaled in relief, while Su Jin rushed to pull Zuo Tiantian up, dragging her behind them. Meanwhile, Chen Kaijie continued to swing his frying pan to fend off their attackers.

The five remaining members of the group were currently facing off against three mirror images, and compared to the fourth round, they had slightly less combat strength.

“There’s no exit here. We have to go past them!”

Shen Qingqiu swiped with her dagger, forcing Lin Hai to keep his distance. However, she had multiple wounds that were reopening due to her big movements, noticeably slowing her down. She couldn’t hold on for much longer.

The axe Xiao Muyu was wielding proved to be quite hefty, and after dealing with Lin Hai a few times, her arms were already trembling.

So the two combined forces to push Lin Hai back again before quickly retreating, kicking “Chen Kaijie” and “Xiao Muyu” out of the way and into the wall.

Shen Qingqiu didn’t hesitate to pull at their clothes, and check for a number. When she found nothing, she slit “Chen Kaijie’s” throat without mercy, while Xiao Muyu didn’t even blink as she chopped off her mirror image’s head.

As he was watching, the real Chen Kaijie felt a chill on his own neck, and his face went pale.

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Author had something to say:

Author: Tell me how tough you are.
Xiao Shen: I’m so tough, I even dare to slit my own throat.
Author: You’re a badass.
Xiao Xiao: I’ll chop off my own head if I want. Also, I’m so tough, I’ll stab my wife if she wants.
Xiao Shen: ……
Author: Slay!